Safe Schools Act of 2010 Report
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REPORT TO THE STATE OF MARYLAND UNDER HB 1160 SAFE SCHOOLS ACT OF 2010 Maryland Statistical Analysis Center Governor‟s Office of Crime Control & Prevention June 30, 2011 “Gangs affect all Marylanders, no county nor region is immune.”i 1 Table of Contents: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY…...………………….…………………………….… …. 4 MARYLAND’S CRIMINAL GANG LAWS……………………………………… 7 Criminal Gang………………………………………………………… 7 Pattern of Criminal Gang Activity……………………………………... 7 Criminal Gang Activity in School……………………………………… 8 MARYLAND STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (MSDE) MODEL GANG POLICY…………………………………………………………………….... 8 Model Procedures for Reporting Suspected Gang Activity…………………… 8 GANG VIOLENCE………………………………………………………………….. 9 Maryland‟s Gangs……………………………………………………………… 10 CONTRIBUTING FACTORS OF YOUTH GANG INVOLVEMENT………… 10 Personal Characteristics……………………………………………………….. 10 Bullying Violence……………………………………………………………... 11 Maslow‟s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid………………………………………. 11 Maslow‟s Hierarchy Pyramid and Gang Membership………………………… 12 Unified Theory of Gang Involvement………………………………………… 13 NATIONAL EVIDENCE-BASED GANG PREVENTION PROGRAMS……… 14 OJJDP’s Gang Reduction Program…………………………………… 14 Gang Resistance Education and Training……………………….…….. 15 Boys and Girls Club of America’s Gang Prevention through Targeted Outreach program……………………………………….…………….. 16 Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development………….... 16 Olweus Bullying Prevention Program…………………………………. 16 NATIONAL EVIDENCE-BASED GANG INTERVENTION PROGRAMS…… 17 Promising Intervention Programs for At-Risk Youth….………………………. 18 An Achievable Dream, Newport News, VA……………………………. 18 U.S. Dream Academy………………………………………………….. 20 The SEED School……………………………………………………… 21 2 Multi-systematic Therapy……………………………………………… 22 MARYLAND GANG PREVENTION PROGRAMS………………..................... 23 Gang Awareness School Outreach Program………….…………..….. 23 Department of Juvenile Services……………………………………………… 24 Maryland Community Crime Prevention Institute…………………………… 25 Community Gang Awareness 2010: Training the Trainers…………... 25 Additional Programs………………………………………………………….. 26 Gang Resistance Education and Training……………………………. 26 Boys and Girls Club of America’s Gang Prevention through Targeted Outreach program……………………………………….……………. 26 Salisbury/Wicomico County: A Snapshot of Proposed Local Solutions 26 CRITERIA FOR GANG PREVENTION/INTERVENTION PROGRAMS…… 28 RECOMMENDED PILOT PROGRAMS…….……………………………………. 29 Why This Program is Compatible with the State‟s Needs…………………….. 30 Potential Funding Sources for Maryland‟s Youth Gang Prevention & Intervention Efforts……………………………………………………………. 31 COMMUNITY SERVICES STATE SURVEY.……………….….………………. 32 Methodology…………..…………………….………………………………… 32 Results……………………………………….………………………………… 33 APPENDIXES Appendix A: Safe Schools Act of 2010 Gang Program Survey ….………… 34 Appendix B: Directory of Gang Prevention/Intervention Programs and Resources 39 ENDNOTES…………………………………………………………………………. 60 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since 2007, the O‟Malley-Brown Administration has championed Security Integration, seamless coordination and consistent information sharing among all levels of government. The Safe Schools Act of 20101 builds upon this objective, mandating an unprecedented level of collaboration and information sharing among school, community and criminal justice partners to protect Maryland‟s most vulnerable youth. The Act, sponsored by House Speaker Michael Busch, has established a foundation upon which the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), Local School Systems, the Department of Juvenile Services, State and local law enforcement agencies, local criminal justice agencies, and parents and guardians, can improve collective accountability regarding the identification of gang activity in schools and mobilize to prevent violence and intervene in the lives of at-risk youth. The Act required the Governor‟s Office of Crime Control & Prevention (GOCCP) to perform a community services survey to determine existing youth gang prevention and intervention programs within each county, which may be found at the end of this report. In addition, the Act required GOCCP to develop criteria for gang prevention and intervention programs that are evidence-based and produce measurable outcomes and make recommendations for a pilot program to provide comprehensive gang prevention and intervention services for a high school and the high school‟s middle school feeder system, where gang activity is prevalent. Nationally, evidence-based youth gang prevention programs are widespread; however, few if any evidence-based youth gang intervention programs exist. Most intervention programs are limited to promising practices or evidence-based programs that target the broader population of at-risk youth. Prevention programs are cost-effective while intervention programs require intense case management customized per youth, preferably involving re-location and solid commitment from the youth and their familial support system, whether traditional or nontraditional. Effective intervention models provide new social controls saturated with positive self-actualization, long- term adult investment and sustained services that impart practical skills in social etiquette, job training, and conflict resolution. Throughout this report, innovative local, statewide, and national youth gang prevention and intervention models are put forth. The majority of evidence-based and promising programs incorporate the following criteria to achieve success: 1 Article – Courts and Judicial Proceedings, Section 3–819(b–1) and 3–8A–19(d)(5) and Article – Education, Sections 7-302, 7-303, 7–424.2, Annotated Code of Maryland (2008 Replacement Volume and 2009 Supplement). 4 Community Involvement Alternative Activities/Afterschool programs Collaboration across Government Systems Anti-Bullying Information/Resource Sharing Sustained Adult Mentoring/Investment Accountability Multi-Systematic or Family Therapy Gang Education/Awareness Since 2007, Governor O‟Malley has signed bills into law that further criminalize gang membership, criminalize gang activity in schools, and require MSDE and Local School Systems to prohibit gang activity in schools and design procedures for administrators, teachers, and staff to report gang activity. The laws and policies currently in place use criminal law definitions to define system response; however, the largest service gap remains reaching those at-risk youth mimicking gang behaviors and preventing them from becoming deep-end youth. To this end, many replicable programs exist, but nothing replaces the force multiplier of training administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and guardians to identify presenting behaviors, intervene with the youth, and access the appropriate government and nonprofit resources within the community. If the State of Maryland is to build this capacity system-wide, work must be done to build infrastructure and leverage the statewide resources that currently exist. GOCCP‟s primary recommendation to the Maryland General Assembly within this report is the establishment of a state-level Safe Schools Coordinator to help Maryland serve youth as a unified system. A Statewide Safe Schools Coordinator within MSDE would: Promulgate model policy, gang awareness, and train-the-trainer capacity uniformly across the State so that at-risk youth are identified and reached before intervention becomes necessary. Provide coordination for and expansion of the three statewide prevention programs currently in place. Liaison with stakeholders already brought together at the local level per the requirements of the Act. Mobilize and leverage currently existing community resources such as the respondents of the community services survey. At the state-level, the Safe Schools Coordinator would encompass the five components of the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention‟s (OJJDP) Comprehensive Gang Reduction strategy: 5 Community Mobilization: Involvement of local citizens, including former gang-involved youth, community groups, agencies, schools, and coordination of programs and staff functions within and across agencies. Opportunities Provision: Development of a variety of specific education, training, and employment programs targeting gang-involved youth. Social Intervention: Involving youth-serving agencies, schools, grassroots groups, faith- based organizations, police, and other juvenile/criminal justice organizations in „reaching out‟ to gang-involved youth and their families, and linking them with the conventional world and needed services. In-school and afterschool prevention and education programs such as anti-bullying, peer mediation, tutoring, and others are offered within the target area(s), as are community programs to educate parents, businesses, and service providers. Suppression: Formal and informal social control procedures, including close supervision and monitoring of gang-involved youth by agencies of the juvenile/criminal justice system and also by community-based agencies, schools, and grassroots groups. Organizational Change and Development: Development and implementation of policies and procedures in a variety of settings including schools, which result in the most effective use of available and potential resources within and across agencies to better address the gang problem. Leveraging currently existing programs and forging unprecedented information sharing among the diverse Safe Schools partners charged with keeping our youth safe and secure will guide future development and implementation of successful school-based gang